Paleontologists report that our species is between 40,000 and 500,000 years old. Compared to other species that is not very long particularly when compared to those that have existed millions of years. Alligators remain in existence even after 50 million years.

When we discern the differences between our species and others, several facts come to light:

• There are common traits that are universal to all people of our species regardless of race, gender, age, ethnicity or nationality, for examples;
• Our species is uniquely distinct from all other species on earth – we have organized into societies, built cities, developed commerce, religions, multiple languages, mathematics and smart phones.
• We have developed consciousness, the capacity to observe our thinking, to think about our own processes of thinking while we are doing that, and wonder if we are the only sentient beings in the universe.
• When we discern these things, we also realize that something in us has sustained our existence to the point where our species thrives to now dominate the whole planet. More than simply being incredibly fecund, we have the capacity to change even the physical environment of our planet, now perhaps to our detriment.

What is it in us that has so distinctly set apart from the hundreds of thousands of other species on our planet? What is it that makes us “human?”